Diskerud Breaks Through

Mix Diskerud's Rebound Goal Proved to be the Game-Winner against Azerbaijan

MNTMay 28, 2014

Candlestick Park roared around Mix Diskerud as he lay on the ground, arms thrust in the air, in pain. The good kind of pain. After 75 minutes of attempts to break down the Azerbaijan defense, Diskerud had opened the scoring just four minutes after coming on as a substitute.

"I just tried to make an impact; mix things up a little bit," he said post-game.

That's exactly what he did. After Brad Davis' service from a free kick deflected off Azerbaijan defender Ilkin Girtimov, Diskerud managed to find Michael Bradley at the top of the box with a flick-on header. Bradley rifled a low shot on goal, but defender Elvin Yunuszade got down well to block it off the line.

That's where Diskerud came in again. With pressure barreling in from behind him, the midfielder knocked in the opening goal off the rebound just as a third Azerbaijan defender, Rasim Ramaldanov, took Diskerud's legs out from under him.

"It was an easy job for me to score," Diskerud said. "I got tackled right as I was shooting so I was just laying on the ground in agony after the goal."